January's bookmarks

Well, we have finally reached the last week of January. I hope this month hasn't been too hard on you. Just think, six more days and we'll be in February. The month of love and pancakes. This can only be good :)

I've been bookmarking articles and objects that I have loved from around the web this month. I hope you enjoy them too.

Want more. Be more kind. Danielle LaPorte gives us her 10 points to success. As a huge fan of her work, this is everything.

A beautiful tutorial on painting fake feathers.

Jenny from Healthy Crush teaches us how to listen to our bodies to see how the food we're eating impacts us. This has been revolutionary for me. Join me in doing her breakfast experiment!

I absolutely love this makeup artist. She is such a talented lady. Here are her beauty favourites from 2014. I want all of them.

This Topshop dress is an absolute beauty.

Trust your instincts and embrace imperfection.

I have such a soft spot for stationery. These marble and gold gift tags are on my wishlist.

On Fey and Poehler at the Globes and how their opening speech made a much needed feminist statement.

How to find the right shade of lipstick. This tip by the genius and all round lovely chap, Wayne Goss, is ludicrously simple and sooo effective.

A great lighthearted article by a beauty points enthusiast on her joy of "working the points".

This month, I discovered the site, Annapurna Living. I have bookmarked so many articles from here this month. Here are a few of my favourites: an ode to mornings; "Without devotion in a Yoga practice, it becomes just exercise"; a beautiful film about Maria Helles, a Russian ballet dancer who, at 95 years of age, is independent, fit and healthy. Inspirational.

Much love
Louise x

(Image via Freepeople)

Healthy chocolate and banana smoothie

Come New Year's Day, "losing weight" was not on my list of resolutions and hasn't been for the past few years. But what I am focusing on is my health. Do I have enough energy? Is my body working the way I want it to? Can I play superheroes with my nephews without feeling like I've ran a marathon?

The answer unfortunately isn't always yes, so this year I'm addressing that. The challenge though has been to find recipes that are healthier - but that still actually taste good. I have tried soooo many healthy recipes that just taste, well, a bit blah.

But I have finally found one that does taste great. Really great. Plus, Imran likes it. And he is one fussy discerning eater.

Originally found here, this chocolate banana shake is seriously good. Plus it's free from added sugar and dairy.



Healthy chocolate and banana smoothie

1 ripe banana
1 1/2 tablespoons unsweetened cacao powder
1 tablespoon smooth almond butter
1/3 vanilla almond milk

Slice the banana. Add the rest of the ingredients into the blender and blend until nice and smooth. Boom. That's it!

As we don't have a blender, we just mashed up our bananas and then popped all the ingredients into the Kitchenaid at the highest speed for a few minutes. Worked a charm!

The original recipe suggests freezing the bananas before adding them to the blender. I decided not to do this as in this cold the last thing I want is a chilled smoothie, but I am 100% sure that will change come summer.

I hope you enjoy! Do you have any tried and tested healthy recipes?

Much love
Louise x